MSNBC Morning Ratings Top Fox For First Time In 18 Years – POLITICO

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

MSNBC’s viewership last week propelled the network to its first No. 1 cable news network daytime rating in 18 years, NBCUniversal announced.

The network averaged 1.56 million total viewers between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Dec. 17-21 week — ahead of Fox News’ 1.54 million and CNN’s 975,000.

It was the first time in three presidencies that MSNBC topped Fox on that metric. The most recent week MSNBC beat Fox there was Nov. 6, 2000, when former President George W. Bush was first elected.

MSNBC also beat Fox in the crucial daytime demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds last week — for the first time since Oct. 8, 2001, the network said, citing Nielsen data.

The cable network, which media observers often portray as the liberal counterpart to the conservative Fox, also finished ahead of its two main competitors in prime time for the fourth consecutive week.

And it boasted the most-watched program on cable news last week, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” which drew an average of 3.21 million viewers.